Sales can be frustrating. I've been watching business owners and salespeople for a long time. They worry about up coming sales calls. They beat themselves up when they think about past sales calls. They complain about prospects that lie, break promises, or don't follow through; co-workers that don't deliver as promised; bosses that change the rules; the economy or company policy.

Yesterday, I shared a story about a consultant who thinks that his dinosaur-style sales tactics combined with his 'I'm smarter than everybody else' attitude will get people to send him referrals. Respectfully, I'll never refer him to anybody. (You can read the story here if you haven't already.)

As you may know, I have a link on my sidebar that will allow anyone to schedule a call with me. Most of the people that use it want to talk about a blog post that I wrote, get some free coaching, or talk about sales or how to sell better. Once upon a time, someone didn't fill in the agenda field and when I inquired as to the agenda, it became apparent that he was scheduling a sales call for himself. The call didn't happen and he went away.

Today, I received an email from my friends at LinkedIn. I didn't write about the one that I received a few months ago about having an active profile, but this one was different. Yes they thanked me and made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Yes they stroked me and told me how important I was, but the thing that was different is that they want us to share our dream and how LinkedIn fits into chasing that dream.

I've been seeing the same primary care physician for many years. Years ago, when we were both young bucks, I would schedule an appointment when I was sick. On one of these visits, he said, "I want you to start having annual physicals so that I have a baseline. If you don't want to have an annual physical, find yourself another doctor." I scheduled my physical and that's the day that he moved from vendor to trusted adviser.

I just read Carole Mahoney's article "Are experts still needed in the age of the business blog?" and it made me wonder, "Are we turning into a world full of DIY-ers?" "Do we believe that we are more self-sufficient than we are?" It made me reflect back on some of the conversations that I've had recently.

Carole Mahoney wrote a review of Sales Shift by Frank Belzer last Sunday. I commented almost immediately and subscribed to see future comments. David Weinhaus couldn't help himself and shared his thoughts. I was commenting at David when I realized that it was going to be a long comment. So, use the link above to go read her review and the comments. Then come back and finish here. I'll wait.